It's been so long. Is it really worth the effort?

How long has it been since I poured my heart out on this computer? Long I questioned whether I should keep it up. My life seemed to suck in the present about as much as everyone around me then something wonderful happened. Life altering wonderful, and then something even more wonderful happened, then we made it to three. I don't know how long it has been since 3 things that were positive happened in my life, our lives. Maya graduated from high school with honors which is huge. She took Math 112 college credit and still graduated with honors. I am so proud of her knowing the struggles she has. But they are not struggles to her.

 #2 Softball season ended and our team won the championship. Maya coaching, Giles helping, Me coaching and most importantly Lea playing with 9 of her friends. We beat everyone bad  Lea pitched great. All the girls hit so good. Errors weren't found. We played an almost perfect game in the series. Those girls are World Champions.


#3 The best news is Cyrus and McKayla came and told us they were pregnant and we were going to take on new names Papa and Gramma. Wow a new life, a new spirit in our family. Everyday that I was down in this happy period I would think about that new baby and nothing bad mattered. My back was out. I got 3 bouts of thrush, but that was nothing because I was going to be a nana or a grandma.


 



But wait, I know what you are thinking, well maybe you are more positive than me because I am not , but I would  be thinking at this point this post is just too happy.This is way too much good news, Well I would be right, Sunday McKayla started spotting., and of course the good times ceased to roll. She lost the baby. 12 weeks along .And there it was. Now I am sitting doing books and I am only thinking about that baby and what could have been, for Cyrus, McKayla, and the rest of the family and I cry, because I hate loss, because I believe we have had far more than our fair share of shitty luck. So I feel like a prisoner in my own life with a small window in my cell teasing me with a hot meal and all my loved ones around me. Then I cry some more and I feel sorry for myself because I can, because I don't know anything else..that is all I know.



For my sanity My friend made me a weighted blanket just in time for all the stress and anxiety.  Thanks Tami I love it and it really is incredible.
I am finally sleeping.

Homecoming Weekend and Lea's last game of the season

Giles Brenda Maya Steve
Homecoming 2017

Beautiful Night for some really great Kids.

I love them all so much! 

https://www.facebook.com/harlenkendalee.garner/videos/1718850148128140/

Lea's last service of the year. Video above

"If you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me."

Matthew 25:40 is on Loughlin's headstone...........

I know I am not religious, but I do try to find influence to better my life. I feel the need to help the most downtrodden. Everyone calls me crazy. My son's friend is homeless and in trouble. He needs help. Who am I not to offer my home, my family, my food, my love? I am just a peasant, whom without the help of others would have perished long ago. I have a loving family. I had a grandma who took me in when I was lost, never to be found. She loved me and taught me that there should be no judgement, only love. 

I am not in a great place right now myself, but lending a hand to someone else makes me feel good, makes me realize that there is pain all around us. It makes me understand that all we have to do is open our eyes a little bit and the opportunities to help, save, love is everywhere. 

I go in for LAPAROSCOPIC NISSEN FUNDOPLICATION on December 15th. I will be sore for sometime. I will be on a liquid diet for 2 weeks. It will be a miserable Christmas for me. I am trying to get on top of things before that time. I usually start Christmas cards, shopping, decorating at about the 15th so I am struggling. I am so far behind that I have not done True's thank you cards from graduation, or the kids' steer thank you cards from September. So I am working on all three at the same time. The shopping will be done online. The presents will be wrapped by my beautiful daughters. I hope to have the Christmas tree up on Sunday. 

A Belly Laugh is so Therapeutic / Homecoming Dance / Last JV Game

I have had a couple of really good days. I spent time with my kids getting ready for Homecoming. We laughed and we laughed. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. I can't believe how much better I felt. A belly laugh is better than any drug.

Lea went to her 1st Cotillion, She was beautiful. She was nervous and silly. She had so much fun. She cannot wait for the next one.

Giles went to Homecoming for his 1st time, 1st dance in high school. He had a good time but he is way too cool to  tell me how much fun he had. His date Brenda is beautiful and sweet. They are cute together.

Maya is a Jr. and she lives for this kind of stuff. She plans what they are going to do for weeks. She buys a dress, shoes, jewelry. She looked gorgeous. Her smile is intoxicating. She has so much fun in life.






Giles also played his last JV game of the season. He got a lot more play time and he had fun. (I hope not enough fun he wants to do it again) but he had a good time.

All in all last week was by far a better week. It was hand over fist, good over sad. I love my kids. I am glad that most of them are enjoying their lives now. It takes some of the guilt out of my heart.

The Sun in the Eastern Horizon blinds my eyes but not my mind to my failures and inadequacies.

Yesterday as I drove the kids to school, I descended our hill, the blaring ball of fire was so immense that I could not see in front of me again. ( I say again, at least I think again. I don't really remember why I hit that truck.) It's nice to have something other than me to blame. The sun is an inanimate object. I am sure he can take the heat.

The whole accident came back in full force. The what ifs drowned me in my own self despair. How could I let this happen? How is Loughlin dead? Just writing those words socks me in the stomach taking the air out of my lungs. Almost 8 years and I still haven't conquered the "Acceptance" step of grief. The weight is enormous today. Sunday Loughlin would be 23. My God is there so much difference between 15 and 23? So much time has passed but in my mind, which isn't that stable, it was yesterday, and yet how is Giles a Freshman? Is it understandable that Loughlin will be "Forever 15" and yet everyone else is growing older? I am older, so much older. I feel it everyday. I have friends running marathons, I can't run downstairs to get toilet paper. ( I am sure I can find something else that will work.)

I keep a page for Loughlin on Facebook. I feel like people hate when I am down and only want uplifting posts. WTF These are the shoes I was given to walk this long dirt road we call life. I guarantee if you want to try them on you will be as Anastasia in Cinderella. They will look like a comfortable fit until the truth is revealed. They are my shoes and mine alone. I am not happy that 2 of my kids are in the cold ground. I am angry. I am sad. I am hurt. I feel ripped off. You talk of your grand babies and your weddings and my kids are gone. My future is forever degraded. My life forever decayed. I am a realist. I always have been. The smile on my face is real, or if it is absent it is absent for a reason. I will not pretend. My incredible son is dead. How do you smile through that? I am not always a miserable wretch. I love my other kids. I love to watch their accomplishments. I love to hear them sing. I love to even hear them argue. I love all the things I missed with Rhiannon and Loughlin. So quit looking at me with that pity face, like you could handle this so much better.

Weddings

Last night Harlen and I went to a reception of a very good friend of Loughlin's. We have stayed close to the family because our kids are close in age, 4-H and the fair. I love his mom to death. She is one of the most genuine people in the world.

That said I usually do not go to weddings of Lough's friends. It is agony. It is like a knife slicing through your soul and pulling out another piece of your heart, with the extra topping being the guilt you feel for feeling ripped off again when you should feel happy for the new couple. I felt happy for a while then the little branches of jealousy crept in to the soul.

I left the party nauseated and so full of anxiety and guilt that I was trembling. That should have been Loughlin. He should be entering into a joyous union with a beautiful young girl. I should be looking forward to grand babies. Actually if you want to rub salt in my open wound today you could say Rhiannon would be married, kids. This is not the plan I had for life. My children's deaths have sent my life on a road I never wanted to travel, but yet I am there and sometimes it is ugly and unbearable, but the light shines through and I see the joy through my other children. This life, different than I had dreamed, can still be joyous.

   I Lava You  My favorite song!

True's Graduation

M kids!

We had a great day with family and friends for True's graduation. 

He made me so proud graduating with honors.

He has such a great time in life.

After we had a big celebration party in the park below our house.

We had a great turnout. The day couldn't have been better.

Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons Walla Walla Washington August 2015

This last Friday Cyrus , McKayla and I got to travel to Walla Walla Washington to listen to my favorite new group perform in an open field. There were around 25,000 people there. We were packed into this venue like sardines. I don't do crowds well. I don't like strangers touching, talking to me. I was miserable for about an hour waiting for the group to set up but then Mark Munford started playing, then the band followed. I felt chills run down my spine. I was completely mesmerized. I felt like a teenage girl listening to John Lennon for the first time, except I wasn't screaming like a banshee and tearing my hair out. His voice touched my soul. I did tear up. This music, this music that was being played right in front of me had got me through so many dark days, so many sleepless nights, so many "I can't make it another minute without my son"  . I felt silly but I couldn't hold back my emotions. I wanted to really thank him for writing such heartfelt songs. I wanted to thank him for playing a part in getting me through my life. It was the best 3 1/2 hours I have spent in years. WOW I wish everyone could have heard them. I am going to add some of their songs to my playlist on the blog for you to enjoy.

Random Act of Kindness

Fair was this week for our family. It is a long week. Usually nothing spectacular happens but this year True won Grand Champion 4-H Steer and Reserve Champion overall.

Another incredible thing happened, The steer sale was a little slow and Lea's steer was up for sale. No one was bidding on it and I was in a jam (I hadn't got enough sponsors to cover all 4 of our kids' steers) I felt horrible. My baby girl was out there in front of the world with only one bid. A man that I have had hard feelings about for a while stepped up and bought Lea's steer. Every time I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes. It was certainly a very large random act of kindness. I am very touched.

Thank you!